WFA President’s Awards recognise five initiatives around the world

WFA President and Mastercard CMCO Raja Rajamannar has rewarded five outstanding industry initiatives around the world as part of Global Marketer Week in Istanbul.

Launched in 2010, the annual President’s Awards recognise initiatives run by national advertiser associations that have helped advance the marketer’s agenda and contribute to positive change in the marketing industry and society.

Submissions were judged on their ability to compellingly demonstrate that they had made a measurable impact and could be replicated in other markets.

This year’s winners were selected from 18 initiatives submitted by nine associations from WFA’s 60-strong membership of national associations.

The winners are:

ABA, Brazil: “No playing around with responsible advertising" campaign

ABA and the Brazilian Licensing Association (ABRAL) led the launch of this campaign to reinforce and raise awareness on responsible advertising best practices, specifically with regards to advertising to children. The campaign aims to make advertisers, agencies, media owners, parents, educators and even children aware about advertising best practices brought about by self-regulatory rules on responsible advertising.

Union des marques, France: Start-up your brand 

The programme has two objectives: help advertisers identify and source innovative Adtech and Martech solutions that could improve their day-to-day work, and help start-ups have a better knowledge of advertisers’ needs and issues. It offers start-ups mentoring from Union des marques’ advertiser members, training on pitching and regulatory issues in advertising, as well as networking and visibility. Since its launch in 2018, dozens of collaborations between advertisers and start-ups have been initiated. 

ANFO, Norway: Orchestrated Prizes and Awards System

ANFO runs three annual awards programmes: ANFO Effekt, ANFO MarTech Awards and Magnet Employer Branding Awards. The aim is to celebrate and improve best practices in marketing and marketing excellence. ANFO believes that competing and at the same time sharing what we know and what we can do, is a good way to increase the level of marketing competencies in the industry. Effectiveness has always been at the top of advertisers’ agenda, but employer branding and Martech are also growing in importance.

ISBA, UK: Origin Cross-Media Measurement 

Origin is a £20+ million advertiser-led initiative to create an industry-owned entity that provides the media industry with a new and independent multi-channel cross-media measurement system. For the first time, the large global digital platforms are submitting their data to independent audit and verification, providing a level playing field to enable a single source of truth for the customer journey and allowing critical investment decisions to be made across media channels.

ANA, USA: Inclusion is Having a Voice!

In 2022, the ANA marketing word of the year was “Inclusion”. Various ANA divisions and working groups – the ANA Educational Foundation (AEF), SeeHer, the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) and ANA Engage Responsibly – came together to provide new tools and resources in support of the common goal to enhance inclusion. Each ANA group caters to different audiences but together they boost the overall DEI strategy of making the marketing and advertising industry more diverse and inclusive.

“If you had any doubt that brilliant local initiatives can have global impact, take a look at the five initiatives selected for this year’s WFA President’s Awards. Each focuses on building a stronger brand while making a positive impact for people, for society and for the planet. That’s a powerful proposition that will inspire marketers around the world”, said Raja Rajamannar, WFA President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard.

For more information about the President's Awards, visit wfanet.org/president-awards